Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies

The Hematology (the study of blood) Debate offers a mix of plenary sessions and interactive workshops designed to provide scientific and clinical updates on topics relating to a range of hematological malignancies. The format enables attendees to participate in discussions on topics of interest with experts in the field and international peers, and gives them the opportunity to personalize the program to their own specific requirements.

At the 2014 event, Stova provided a comprehensive iPad app for the conference, which was held in Berlin. The conference that year brought together 300+ attendees in a highly interactive setting, where the event app played a strategic role. Upon arrival to The Hematology Debate, attendees received an iPad to use onsite that was later returned at the end of the conference. The conference app was pre-installed on each iPad, and since the iPads were locked to be used for one app only, the attendees always had direct access to the conference app when opening their personal iPad.

The app was beautifully designed according to the Janssen corporate style guide and blended seamlessly with the event theme and style. It was packed with useful information for attendees, such as the overall program agenda, speaker bios and upcoming events. Content updates were instantly delivered to all iPads, for example last-minute changes in room location for workshops. Attendees also had access to a personal page where they could review their personal workshop registrations and departure information with pickup times and flight details. Attendees could also use private messaging to ask conference organizers general and logistical questions while onsite.

Stova also provided onsite assistance for both organizers and attendees throughout the conference. For this high-stake conference, an onsite server infrastructure was deployed to provide 100% reliability, and to remove any dependency on internet connections.

During a speaker session or workshop, the app aided in increasing attendee engagement. Attendees could ask questions from within the app, which were delivered to a scientific moderation team, and selected questions were forwarded to the moderator on stage. This guaranteed more, relevant questions being asked in each session.

Speaker slides were accessible during each presentation inside the app, as well. Attendees used the notes functionality in the app intensively, to take notes linked to a slide, a speaker, a session or any other topic. Personal notes were delivered by email to each attendee at the end of the conference.

Finally, at the end of each session, attendees used the Aventri app to rate each speaker directly, and they also completed a final evaluation of the overall event. Results were captured in real-time and made available to event organizers as an instant Excel download. The attendees were also asked to rate the iPad app and content, which received an overall rating of 86%!